For me, last Friday has become ‘unsigned Friday’.

In the morning we held meetings about a compilation CD full of unsigned artists, the evening’s task was judging five unsigned bands in the ‘Southampton Takedown’ at the Talking Heads and between those events I was invited to present a radio show on a national DAB station that only plays unsigned music.

The winners of ‘Southampton Takedown’ were ‘Plastic Toys‘ and they’ll now be supporting ‘YouMeAtSix’ when they play The Salisbury Takedown on July 26^th.

‘Plastic Toys’ narrowly beat deep grunge rockers ‘Burn The Fleet‘ who win the unofficial runners-up prize of an acoustic set at ‘Showcase UK’ in the Soul Cellar on Monday 20^th.

Meanwhile the CD is a collaboration between ‘Showcase UK‘ and ‘Angry Badger Records‘ and titled “Showcase Sett“.

Julian Aplin’s label is fast becoming a feature in the South’s music scene and this album will give 16 acts from Southampton and Portsmouth a great boost.

We’re also using Southampton artists for the cover and sleeve design and with one glimpse you’ll understand why the first collection is called ‘Propeller‘.

It’s released on Saturday 1^st August with a four band show at the Soul Cellar featuring ‘Dlugokecki‘, ‘The Queue‘, ‘Moody Tuesday‘ & ‘Thinking For Tuesday‘.

And finally the radio station is ‘Amazing Radio‘ which I believe is going to shake up both the radio and music industries.

It’s a great thrill and honour to be asked to join them and I’ll only be playing music from the South coast.

First published in the Daily Echo, Friday 10th July www.dailyecho.co.uk/leisure/music/news/4486773./

Houses of Parliament

The justified anger about MP’s expenses has led many people to demand that something must be done about the government.

But have you noticed that in times of stress and frustration with politicians we blame ‘the’ government? It’s almost seen a foreign entity that prods and pokes us in a most irritating manner. It’s blamed for almost everything yet we forget it is ‘our’ government.

We vote them into the House of Commons to spend ‘our’ money and so we are not only responsible for who takes charge of this country, but we also give them the funds to keep it going.

It is time to reclaim ‘our’ government and demand that ‘it’ work for ‘us’.

But we should not go down the route suggested by Lord Tebbit. (Boycott big parties, says Tebbit) He’s calling for people to demonstrate their anger by voting for minority parties at the forthcoming European elections and thereby give the main parties a “right kicking” (my words not his).

It’s difficult to see how this childish idea will help those in the real world and, when you remember that Lord Tebbit is unelected and can not be voted out, you wonder if a serious political, if not physical, revolution is required to get ‘our’ government back into ‘our’ hands.

However we, the voters, have to undergo our own mental revolution. We have to remember that pressure can be easily put on MPs by writing letters, sending emails, going to meetings and speaking out: telling the elected exactly how the electorate feel.

We also have to remember that voting is a privilege which was won by many brave and determined people in our past. As they say: “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.”

National apathy about politics has put us in this position and voting for minority parties, parties who are mainly concerned with single issues, will not make the situation any better.

We need the party system to disappear and a solution to this awful mess found without Labour or the Conservatives receiving beneficial spin from their actions or proposals.

A possible option could be a Government of National Unity.

It was suggested as a fantasy idea by Michael White when the financial crisis took hold in 2008. (Financial crisis may lead to government of national unity) and would mean that MPs work together for a common cause.

Seeing as Members of Parliament are so discredited, it could be the stop-gap that gives us an opportunity to reclaim “our government”.

A GREAT example of how musicians should write about their adventures can be found on the myspace blog of Dlugokecki.

They’ve just had a fantastic week in America and provided us with an excellent account of the amazing New York visit and then South by Southwest support of the Proclaimers in Austin, Texas.

For their manager Mark “Smutz” Smith the trip ticked every box: “The band really raised their game and, in wealth of experience alone, it was worth every penny.”

Experiences like the gig they performed in Harlem, New York, for which their fee was bar tips; a midnight photo shoot on the Empire State; or meeting the fans they’ve met through myspace.

Of course hanging out with the Proclaimers was pure joy and meeting members of the New York Dolls, Graham Coxon from Blur and a variety of music industry contacts has everyone wanting more.

For Mark the hard work continues with following up all the leads but if even half come off then we could see the band touring and being published in various parts of the world plus gigging again in New York.

There is so much more in the blog but my favourite part is when they are having fun in the back of a taxi.

A truck pulls up alongside, the driver winds down his window and says: “First time out west?” The band reply “Yeah” and the trucker puffs on his cigar and says; “You can tell!”

Read more at myspace.com/dlugokecki

First published by the Southern Daily Echo 27th March 2009

Oh Hollywood come hither! I bring you a script suitable for Bond or Bourne because there has to be a super villain out there toying with our security services, proving the extent of his or her evil abilities, because recently…

Two satellites have collided in space (first time ever) and also a pair of nuclear submarines have ‘touched’ mid-Atlantic (equally rare).

No doubt these two incidents have been demonstrations of a dastardly device created by an ‘evil one’ (possibly Dr Collido) just to prove how she, or he, can control our best machinery and make it look, well, stupid.

So if Big Ben strikes twice at one o’clock then no doubt our leaders will have given in the demands of the deranged Dr Collido.

And if, dear Hollywood, this scenario is too simplistic for our cinema goers, why not add a twist of science fiction with meteors flying over Sweden and Texas as seen below.

We could call the film: “Dr Collido’s Moon Threat”

Sweden

Texas